Excerpt from the Abstract:

"... Wolves killed by humans died closer to roads (x = 0.13 km) than wolves that died from other causes (x = 0.85 km). Eighty percent (n = 30) of wolf mortalities were caused by humans, with proportionately more dispersers (90%) than biders (60%) dying from human causes. Dispersers produced more litters than biders. Effects of mountainous terrain and management on wolf recovery are discussed."

Maps of dispersals from Glacier National Park north, south, and west, 200 km and farther.

The following excerpts from "Management Implications" (p. 1106) underscore the need to reduce human-caused wolf mortality, especially outside of protected areas, due to the importance of providing connectivity across the landscape between wolf populations:

"The combination of recolonization and reintroduction should greatly enhance the rate of wolf recovery as long as dispersal occurs between recovery areas to maintain genetic variation and promote population viability.

Wolf recovery is not assured, however, and may be significantly impacted by stochastic environmental events and political pressures. Approximately 40-50% of the white-tailed deer population in northwestern Montana died during an unusually severe winter in 1996-97. This decrease in prey availability may have contributed to record-high levels of livestock depredations, resulting in increased lethal control of wolves (Bangs et al. 1999). Subsequently, the number of breeding wolf pairs in northwest Montana declined from 8 to 6 by 1998 (Bangs et al. 1999). As of March 1999, wolves dispersing from YNP have not survived to reproduce outside YNP (D. Smith, Yellowstone National Park, personal communication). Although the YNP effort has been lauded as a restoration success, the connectivity of dispersers between YNP and other wolf populations has yet to be demonstrated. Dispersal between the YNP wolf population and wolves in Montana and Idaho will enhance recovery and attainment of management goals. Managers can affect recovery positively by maintaining landscape connectivity and my minimizing wolf mortalities caused by humans.

Dispersal was a successful strategy for wolf recolonization in the central Rockies and paramount to wolf recovery. Colonizing wolves moved over large-scale landscapes rather than defined corridors, and these rather indeterminate connections are important to continued recovery. The majority of colonizers in the western United States have appeared outside of parks and wilderness areas."